Pet Food

[robert551069]

I had an aquaintance who applied for a position as a sales representative with a pet food manufacturer.
He told me that although it was well paid, with the perks of a BMW car he refused the job. They told him that they were so happy with the quality of their products that they expected all their direct sales staff to eat a tin of it so that they could reliably recommend it to their potential customers.

[RATTER15]

I don't believe a word of it! Silly nonsense.

[B00]

haha, indeed ;-)

However, thinking about it- if ever this does become true, i'd have done it!

[wildwood]

A likely story!

If that happened the firm would be prosecuted for requiring prospective candidates to eat pet food - not for human consumption.

[RATTER15]

How would telling people that you ate a tin be any recommendation, by law it has to be fit for human consumption but as we have totally different tastes to dogs it would mean absalutley nothing! Why on earth would any company risk losing good sales staff just because they refused to eat dog food? Lol

[sandyRoe]

Would Rentakil want their Reps to try the rat poison for taste?

[douglas9401]

Did he have to eat it while balancing a bucket of sparks on a long stand?
My guess would be that he didn't get the job and this was a fallback story to save face (unless it's an "urban myth").

[paddywak]

A friend of ours was a quality control inspector at Pedigree Pet foods and she always said that they had to take part in "Taste" panels with the various products. She also said that while some were pretty grim some were as very similar to some of the tinned stews that are sold for human consumption, don't know if she was serious or not but she always keeps a straight face when she tells the story.

[johnny37]

I heard this long ago. Not the sales people but the manufacturers do have tasters who test the food.

[RATTER15]

I really dont see the point of having human tasters for a pet food, their tastes are totally different to ours. Have you ever tasted a Bonio or other dog biscuits? they would never get past a human taste test.

Also why would they need to use human tasters with the millions of dogs willing to taste these products free of charge.

[THEMOTLEY1]

I hear McD's are doing the same, that explains a lot!

[FredPuli43]

Can't think why the makers need human food tasters. The stuff tastes extraordinarily bland, by the way, and dog biscuits all taste the same, to me,apart from the black ones, but evidently the dog can tell them apart, since mine each have particular preferred ones in a box of 'Shapes'.

But there's this fashion for making little trays of gourmet dog food, the labels of which read like a menu entry in a good restaurant. It seems that the makers are encouraging the belief of some owners that the dog is a small human. Then a human food-taster might make some absurd 'sense'.

Years ago, at Bournemouth Dog Show, my mother witnessed Mrs Barbara 'Walkies' Woodhouse carefully tasting the dog food, on the basis that if it was not good enough for her, it was not good enough for her dogs. My mother thought Mrs Woodhouse completely mad for that.

[flump1]

I have heard this before too and I wondered if it was done to ensure safety when putting pet food down in the vicinity of a curious baby !! While it is a horrible thought I am sure many babies have had the odd snack meant for the family pet.

[RATTER15]

flump1, "by law it has to be fit for human consumption" that doesnt mean it will taste good, it doesnt mean that we would normally eat those body parts, it just means it is safe to consume.

[flump1]

Ahh thanks for that Ratter , so it is a taste test ? Double yuk then ! * )

[Ann]

I can assure paddywak and you all on this tread that it is entirely true. I worked there too for many years and members of the office were invited in "taste "panel teams along with quality control managers to ensure good quality. Obviously the fishy products were not too pleasant to taste (if you don't like fish) but the meat based ones were like tinned steak. And BTW I'm not joking - their products are excellent.

[wolf63]

Regardless of how good or bad cat food tasted the smell alone would put anybody off eating it.

I am sure that some 'celebrity Vet' ate dog food a couple of years back - I don't think that it was as disgusting as he expected.

[craft1948]

After years of my mother's cooking, I'd have found this a treat.

[jules77]

I need a new job, who was it for LOL.

[lankeela]

As I always say, it only becomes 'pet' food when you feed it to a pet! Till then it is just meat, fish or whatever.

[RATTER15]

Lankeela, how do fancy a nice bit of cows trachea for a treat, our dogs love it, tough and grisselly. they chew on it for ages. xx :)